After Laden,Kashmiri likely to be al-Qaeda's next dark horse

Washington, May 11: With the death of 9/11 terror attacks' kingpin - Osama bin Laden, questions started raising among people that who will succeed Laden to lead al-Qaeda. First several experts named Egyptian-born doctor and surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri. But now US officials feared that Laden's empty place might be grabbed by Ilyas Kashmiri.

The NBC News has quoted an US official as saying that Kashmiri has become a rising star in al-qaeda terror outfit. Kashmiri had been once quoted as saying, "2008 Mumbai attack was nothing compared to what has already been planned for the future."

"His (Kashmiri) star has been on the rise for the last several years. He would have to be on the al-Qaeda short list," said the US official to NBC News.

Kashmiri, at one point was a member of the Pakistani military, serving as a commando in a Special Services Group that was once tasked with training Afghan mujahideen to fight the Soviets.

He was later reassigned to train Kashmiri fighters against the Indians, but broke from the Pakistani army and joined a terrorist group - called Harakat-ul Jihad-i-Islami, or HuJI that has been closely aligned with al-Qaeda.